Where have all the Flowers Gone?
by ropowo
Summary: Set in 1941. Finn and Rachel had the perfect life, married with two children, until Finn goes to fight in the war. Will the couple survive, or will a tragic event occour to break the two apart? Story better than summary. Rated T to be safe.
1. Rachel's story

**This is my first proper fanfiction fanfic. It's set in 1941 during the 2nd World War. I may delete Accidentally in Love because it's not really in the right format. Please R+R. Thank you! :D**

_To my dearest Finn,_

_There is not a day that goes by without me thinking about you. You are always my first thought when I wake up and my last thought before I go to sleep. Ordinarily my thoughts related to you revolve around 3 words; Is he safe? Although I do sometimes have flashbacks to when we were united, including when we met, when we started courting, our wedding, when Anne was born, when Josh was born, I could go on. I'm sure you have more important duties to do rather than read this letter._

_The children miss you dearly. They do not know of your whereabouts, I could not bring myself to tell them the truth. All they are aware of is that you have gone away for a while, but they know not where. _

_Josh just had his 7th birthday. All his friends were round, and Quinn and Kurt came too. I know not why Kurt is excluded from the fighting but he is. He is lucky. He is able to stay with his his spouse unlike you._

_I have employed two maids since you left. Their names are Brittany and Santana, and they seem very close. It pleases me to know that my employees get along with each other, that keeps things peaceful in the house. I am hoping that you are getting along with your fellow troupes, otherwise there is no way we can possibly win this war._

_Words cannot express how proud of you I am. To volunteer yourself to defend the country in spite of you knowing the risks. Having said that, I do wish you'd stayed, but simply for my own pure greed. I know that the country needs you, and I'll be supporting you 100%._

_Please reply to this letter so I can know that you are well._

_Your Rachel_

* * *

Two months. It had been two months since he was torn away from her. The love of her life, the one man that would listen to her rants about equal rights of the races (unfortunately, she was a minority with this belief) had packed his bags and left to fight to defend the people of the USA, exactly two months ago. Life for her wasn't easy without him, taking care of two young children single handedly while a war was going on, but she was more than 90% sure that it was a lot harder for him than it was for her. She missed him dearly. She wondered if he thought about her, or if he'd already been killed, (which she prayed to God wasn't the case), if his last thought had been about her. For some reason, she doubted it. She felt that he must have much more important things on his mind than his weeping wife at home. Sighing and wiping the single tear that fell from her eye, she sealed the letter in an envelope, and went out to post the letter.

"Santana!" She yelled. As if on cue, her servant appeared in front of her.

"Yes M'am?" Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I have told you countless times, don't call me that! Mrs Hudson, or even Rachel, is fine. Anyway, I am off out to post a letter. Keep an eye on Josh and Anne to make sure they don't yell at each other. I'll be back soon."

"Yes M'a-Mrs Hudson." And with that, Santana went upstairs to keep an eye on Rachel's children, and Rachel left the house.

* * *

"Good afternoon Mrs Hudson" Mrs Schuester greeted her as she walked into the post office. "What can I do for you?"

"I need this letter posted. How much will it be?" After finding out the cost of the letter, she kissed it whilst tears were falling down her face, and began to make her way back home. Despite how broken she was inside, she still had two children, and had to remain strong for them.

* * *

"If you please Mrs Hudson, Mrs Hummel has come to see you." Excellent. Rachel had been dying to see Quinn for a long time, but alas, she has been busy with her new teaching job at William McKinley school. Now was Rachel's opportunity to fill her in on what's happened over the last few days (which wasn't a lot).

"He what?" Rachel exclaimed after Quinn had confessed some unfortunate news.

"It is true, my dear." Quinn replied.

"But no man has ever refused intercourse with a woman, much less with his wife!"

"Perhaps he's ill, although he refused to tell me anything." Quinn rationalised.

"I suppose that's the only reasonable explantion Quinn. At least your husband's with you" Rachel added that last bit at the end, regretting it after she'd said it. She didn't want to make Quinn feel guilty.

"He's still out there. And he's fighting for you I can guarrentee it." Rachel looked over at Quinn, and hoped with all her heart that this was true.


	2. Finn's story

Two months. It had been two months since he had seen her. The love of his life, the woman who had crazy ideas about right and wrong, had stayed at home whilst he'd left her to fight for the country. He even missed her crazy rants about the rights of women, although, he had to admit that he did agree with her on that one.

He read the letter, his heart tearing into tiny pieces with every word. _Oh how he missed her. _And he couldn't believe that he'd missed his own son's birthday! That should make him a terrible father and husband, and yet she said she was proud of him. He wondered how he had got so lucky. It was his fault that he was away from her, he chose to volunteer his services to the army, and yet his wife stayed faithful to him, even though he was on the other side of the world.

He was glad she'd employed two maids though. It wasn't fair for her to have to look after their two children singlehandedly, whilst she also volunteered to help with various things in Lima. That was one of the many things he loved about her, she helped out in the community, even though it was not in her best interests.

He felt a single tear shread from his eye as he read the last line: _Please reply to this letter so I can know that you are well. _Yes. He was definitely going to reply. Anything to keep in contact with her. He was just about to scribble down his reply (it might have been messy but he was going to put a lot of thought into the letter) when he heard his surname called.

"Hudson. You coming?" He looked to see his best friend out here, Puckerman, gesturing for him to walk over to him. Reluctantly, he got up off his bed, leaving his wife's letter to be replied to later.

* * *

"Oooh, OOH, OOH, RRRAAAAAYYYYYY!" The soldiers cheered when Blaine Anderson put down the killer card during a game of Brag. During the evenings, this was all they really did to entertain themselves. All except one. Finn Hudson was still thinking about the letter from his wife that he was acting distant from the game. This didn't go unnoticed by the other soldiers.

"What's up with you Hudson?" Finn looked up to see Sam Evans smirking at him.

"Uh..uh...nothing." Finn Stuttered.

"I think," Mike Chang, an Asian man from nearer here, said "That he's thinking of someone special." Out of all the soldiers whom Finn shared a room with, Mike seemed the smartest and the most phycic. He was almost on the same level as Finn's wife, and that was impressive.

"Oooooh" The soldiers, minus Finn and Mike, said in unison.

"Who is it?"

"What's her name?"

"Is she your wife?"

"Is she one of the nurses that treated my arm? They are some fine piece of work." That last comment was from Puckerman, to which Finn rolled his eyes at.

"She's my wife." He finally got the chance to speak.

"What's her name?" They all asked.

"Rachel." He said it like it was the most beautiful name in the world, which it was.

"I can relate. I had to leave my wife, Tina at home to do this." Mike added glumly.

"Yeah, but you weren't all meloncholy about it. Why is she making you so, _glum?" _Blaine asked.

"I got a letter from her."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh" Everyone said in realisation.

"Well if it's making you so worked up, _go and reply!"_Blaine encouraged.

"Thanks guys," He quickly said, then made his way back to his bed.

* * *

_Dear Rachel,_

What should he write after this? There were no words to describe how he felt being without her, but he couldn't possibly just leave it at _Dear Rachel. _So he decided to begin with her unasked question at the end of her letter.

_Don't worry about me so my dear. I am quite well. *_A sort of lie, but he didn't want her to get worried. So he carried on.*

_I feel terrible for missing Josh's birthday. I'm such a bad father. I never should've left. However, I still believe that the army needs as many troups as possible so unfortunately, I am resigned. However, keep this in mind my love. Every time I fight, every scar I receive, every bone I break, is all to defend you. The only reason I even left you was to try and keep you safe. If something happened to you, well, let's just say that I would never stop fighting for justice, even if it involved killing the convicted. I_

"Lads! Come and get your dinner!" Finn sighed. He would have to finish it later. He wasn't going to skip dinner though, because he needed his strength to fight, and, like he said in the letter, he was fighting for _her._


	3. Imagery

**Sorry about the long wait, but I've been stuck for ideas. But I'm back! I think I'm gonna ask for 5 new reviews for the next 1, just to make sure you like this story :D**

Rachel crumpled the letter in her hands feeling the tears fall rapidly from her eyes. She couldn't take being away from him. It pained her inside. Just the line _I love you more than life itself, so even if something happens to me, don't ever forget that. Ever_ made her hyperventilate. If something happened to him, she would blame herself entirely. Blame herself for letting him ever leave her.

"Why are you crying Mother?" Josh came up to her and asked.

"I'm not crying sweetie." Rachel said, quickly wiping her eyes. "Just the sun making my eyes watery."

"Mum..." He began.

"Yes?"

"When's Dad coming home?" This question made her blood run cold. How was she suppost to answer that? _To her own child?_

"When he's ready."

"But how long will that be? I really miss playing football with him." That only made Rachel miss him even more. "Where is he anyway?"

"Just away for a while." She relpied.

"You always say that! Where is he away? Why can't you tell me?"

"Please stop sweetie!" She begged, and began crying.

"I will find out Mother. Mark my words." And he ran off to his sister's room. Rachel broke down after he left. Finn's absense was not only affecting her, but her own children too.

"Please come home soon my love." She said to the air.

"I will be." She turned to the voice and saw her _own_ husband standing in _her _kichen.

"Finn." She said breathlessly and began to run up to him, but he put a hand up to tell her to stop.

"What's wrong?" She asked. _Hadn't he missed me too? _She thought. She thought she was the love of his life. Perhaps she was wrong.

"I'm just a figurant of your imagination. I'm not real. I'm only here because you _want _me to be here. In reality, I'm still fighting right now." She bursted into sobs at that comment. How could she fool herself into thinking that he was here. It was far too early for that. The war still had far to go. Once she had calmed down, all she managed to say was

"It's figment, not figurant." If it wasn't for the grave circumstance that they were currently in, she would have found it amusing that, even in her mind, Finn still got his vocabulary mixed up. She blinked, and to her surprise, he was still there. _He's not real_ she reminded herself. _The real Finn is still in danger, far away from me. _"Are you safe?" She whispered.

"As safe as I'll ever be." He replied. He hesitated. "I'm alive. But I think you knew that anyway."

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because it's what I want to hear?" She asked. She couldn't hear him say it if it wasn't true. She just couldn't.

"If I was dead, wouldn't you be able to tell yourself?" He asked.

"I suppose." I replied. "I really miss you. More than I should. More than what's healthy."

"I miss you too. You have no idea."

"How's the fighting?"

"How should I know? I'm not real, I'm just a figurant of your imagination."

"Figment!" She corrected automatically. "Right. Of course you are." She said with tears in her eyes. "Can you...stay with me for a while? I know you're not real but it's nice to hear your voice again." He smiled his famous crooked smile and said

"As long as I'm on your mind."

"Believe me, you always will be." He smiled at her and she sighed happily.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" He asked.

"Well, ooh! Do you want to hear a funny story?"

"Always." He replied with a slight laugh.

"Kurt wouldn't have intercourse with Quinn."

"What? But he_"

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang. Rachel turned away from Finn to answer the door.

"Hi!" Quinn said when she saw Rachel. "Just reminding you it's Kurt's birthday tomorrow, and he wanted you to come over. You know how we both adore you." Rachel laughed slightly.

"Oh, don't patronise me Quinn. You know how compliments make me blush."

"I only speak the truth Mrs Hudson." Suddenly Rachel's smile faded.

"Oh sorry Rachel I_"

"Don't worry. He's alive. I can feel it. As long as I'm sure of that, I'm fine." Quinn nodded, though it wasn't a firm nod, more one of uncertainty.

"I'd better go Rachel. See you tomorrow!" And Quinn left to walk down the street to her house across the road.

Rachel walked back into the house, looking for her hallucination of her husband.

"Finn?" She called out. No answer. She tried again.

"Finn?" She felt the tears come down her face. He'd gone. He'd vanished, just like he had when he'd gone to war.

"I should have known." She muttered to the empty hallway, quickly wiping her tears before her children could see that she'd been crying. A lot.

She had to keep going for them. And for him.


End file.
